Tramway



April 25, 1961 G. H. BANNERMAN ET AL 2,981,205

TRAMWAY Filed Aug. 25, 1955 GORDON H. BANNER/MAN, moms 1.. HARP and .SEPP RUSCHP,

Err AM /0% fire/r Attorney.

TRAMWAY Gordon H. Bannerman, San Mateo,

San Francisco, Calif., assignors to United States Steel Corporation, a cor= poration of New Jersey Filed Aug. 25, 1955, Ser. No. 536,563

2 Claims. (Cl. 104 173) and Thomas L. Harp,

This invention relates to a tramway and more particularly to a tramway having a plurality of pairs of chairs. Tramways are used to transport skiers from the bottom of a grade to the top thereof. These tramway-s include a continuous wire rope which extends from the bottom of the grade to the top then around a grooved wheel supported on a vertical axis and back to the bottom of the grade where it passes around a similar grooved wheel. The wire rope supports a plurality of spaced apart chairs which may be either single or of the twin type. The present application relates to the latter type of chair. There are loading and unloading stations at each end of the tramway adjacent the wheel. Because both runs of the wire rope at each station are at approximately the same level the passengers are discharged to one side only. Thus it is impossible to fully utilize the advantages of a twin chair tramway since excessive time is required to load or unload passengers.

It is an object of our invention to provide a tramway of the twin chair type in which passengers may be unloaded or loaded from either side of the tramway without danger thereto.

This and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

Figures la and 1b together are a schematic view of a tramway incorporating our invention;

Figure 2 is a view taken on the line II-II of Figure 1a; and

Figure 3 is a view taken on the line III-III of Figure 1b.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference numeral 2 indicates an endless wire rope which is supported by means of a grooved wheel 4 at its lower end and a similar grooved wheel 6 at its upper end, the wheels 4 and 6 being mounted on substantially vertical axes. The rope 2 is supported on pulleys 8 between the wheels 4 and 6. Pulleys 8 are supported by spaced apart towers 19. A plurality of pairs of chairs 12 are suspended from the rope 2 in the usual manner. The chairs shown in the copending application to Bannerman and Harp, Serial No. 479,973, filed January 5, 1955, now abandoned, may be used. Loading and unloading stations 14 and 16 are provided adjacent the bottom and top of the tramway, as shown. The bottom station 14 is primarily a loading station and the top station 16 is primarily an unloading station but in some instances passengers will also be unloaded at the lower station and loaded at the top station. The return run of the wire rope 2 is supported at station 14 by pulleys 18 mounted on a tower 20 and pulleys 22 mounted on tower and Sepp Ruschp, Stowe, Vt.,

2,981,205 Patented Apr. 25, 1961 vided having a horizontal portion 52 and two ramps 54.

extending in opposite directions therefrom. It will be seen that the chairs on the approach run of the wire rope 2 at station 14 are elevated a sufficient amount so that they will not interfere with passengers entering the tramway and that the return run of the rope adjacent the station 16 is elevated in a similar manner. Thus two loading lines 55 and 56 may be provided at the station 14 and two unloading lines 57 and 58 may be provided at the station 16. This permits rapid loading and unloading without danger to the passengers.

While one embodiment of our invention has been shown and described it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. An aerial tramway com'prisingan endless rope, a wheel at each end of said tramway for supporting said rope, the axes of said wheels being substantially vertical, the tramway having two generally parallel runs of said rope in different vertical planes, a plurality of pairs of chairs suspended from said rope, a station adjacent each end of the tramway adjacent one of said runs of said rope for loading and unloading passengers, and means adjacent the entry end of at least one of said stations for elevating'the other of said runs of said rope a sufficient distance above the said run of rope at the said station to permit passage of passengers below chairs on the said other of said runs.

2. An aerial tramway comprising an endless rope, a wheel at each end of said tramway for supporting said rope, the axes of said wheels being substantially vertical, the tramway having two generally parallel runs of said rope in different vertical planes, a plurality of pairs of chairs suspended from said rope, a station adjacent each end of the tramway adjacent one of said runs of said rope for loading and unloading passengers, means adjacent the entry end of at least one of said stations for elevating the other of said runs of said rope a sufiicient distance above the said run of rope at the said station to permit passage of passengers below chairs on the said other of said runs, and means for lowering the said other of said runs of said rope to substantially the same elevation as the rope on the first of said runs on the exit side of said station.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,632,402 Reussner Mar. 24, 1953 2,709,966 Boynton et al. June 7, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 911,487 France Mar. 18, 1946 935,399 France June 17, 1948 879,113 Germany June 11, 1953 444,436 Italy Jan. 21, 1949 

